


Empire

by DancewithDragons



Category: Batman (Movies - Nolan), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anxiety Attacks, Anxiety Disorder, Attempted Sexual Assault, Badass Women, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Hot Mess Jonathan Crane, Jonathan Crane Being a Jerk, Mentor/Protégé, Meta Human OCs, Meta humans, Morally Ambiguous Character, Multi, Protective Jonathan Crane, Protective Mark Mardon, Protective Siblings, Redemption Arcs, To everyone except Claire, Twins
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-12 14:26:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28636971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DancewithDragons/pseuds/DancewithDragons
Summary: Alyssa had always been the disappointment. The one that her parents didn't like to talk about.Claire, on the other hand, was the pride and joy of the family. She was the one that everyone had heard everything about.It was a fact both of them hated.But all that changed the night that the Particle accelerator exploded, giving the girls superpowers.Unable to control her power, Alyssa runs away, where she meets a mysterious man with powers of his own, who offers to help her control hers.Claire meanwhile, decides to find Alyssa, and new powers to help Gotham, but gets tangled up with the infamous Scarecrow along the way.
Relationships: Jonathan Crane/Original Female Character(s), Jonathan Crane|Scarecrow/ Claire Renan| Blackice, Mark Mardon/Original Female Character(s), Mark Mardon| Weather Wizard/ Alyssa Renan| Wildfire
Kudos: 1





	1. Fire and Ice

**Author's Note:**

> I've been playing with this idea for a while now, so I'm finally giving it a try.

Alyssa hadn't looked back since she'd left her house.

She'd always imagined having superpowers would be less horrible. Pyrokinesis. That was her new 'gift'.

It felt more like a curse. She couldn't control the fire, and, if she didn't get away from people, someone was sure to get hurt by accident.

As she ducked into an ally, she paused to plan her next move. Gotham was always so creepy at night.

Alyssa stepped forward, and heard something crunch under her boots. She looked down, and saw her face in the broken mirror. But it was her eyes that startled her.

They were bright fucking _orange._

A laugh bubbled up in the young woman's throat, hysteria threatening to take over. So she could make things catch fire, and her eyes had turned orange. Could her life get any weirder? 

A sound behind her startled her, and Alyssa whirled around, dread creeping through her body as she saw a dark figure blocking the exit. It was a shady area of the city, and she should have known better than to come here at night. She heard footsteps, and this time, she was almost relieved when the broken couch off to her left burst into flames. More fire started to creep along the cobblestones, surrounding her.

"Calm down." A male voice said, sounding absolutely unfazed.

"Who are you?" Alyssa asked, backing away. The man did not answer, but stepped into the flickering firelight.

"Mark Mardon. A meta-human, like you."

"You... you can control fire?" Alyssa asked.

Mardon laughed. "No. Not fire, but other things. The weather."

"You should leave." Alyssa told him. "I don't want to hurt you. Because I can't control the fire either. It doesn't listen to me."

"It does." Mardon said. "You're just scared, and it's trying to protect you." He stepped closer, but not in a threatening way. "Now, what are you doing out here? A girl like you is far to nice to be in this part of town."

"Are you... flirting with me?"

"Maybe." He grinned.

After a moment, Alyssa realized that the flames had stopped advancing along the alley, and simply remained where they were.

"Do you have a name, or should I just call you "Hot Stuff'?" Mardon asked.

"Ha. Ha." Alyssa said, thought it was kind of amusing. "My name is Alyssa."

"Pretty name, so, Alyssa, what does bring you here?"

"The desire to be left alone. I told you, I can't control this."

Mardon tilted his head. "I could help you, teach you to control it."

"Why would you?"

"Well, I wouldn't go so far as to call you a damsel in distress, but..." He flashed her a charming smile.

"Why should I trust you?"

"Do you want to spend the rest of your life in fear of yourself?"

Defeated, Alyssa shook her head.

"Then I'm your best chance." Mardon smiled.

"Try anything, and I'll turn you into a human torch." Alyssa growled.

Mardon just chuckled. "That's the spirit."

Claire was undoubtedly having the absolute worst day of her life.

It had been twelve days since the accident with the Particle Accelerator, and three days since really weird shit started happening. Like frost creeping along her walls.

Today, however, was a whole new realm of _fuckery._ Not only had her once deep brown hair and eyes both turned silvery white, but her twin had run away. Just like her, things had been happening with Alyssa. But instead of ice, it was fire.

So, her sister had decided to run away. Not that Claire blamed her, it was a stressful situation. But why hadn't she at least told Claire some way to reach her? The note simply said "I can't take this. I'm leaving, before I hurt someone."

 _Thanks Ali. Now I have to look all over Gotham for your fiery ass._ Claire thought, annoyed.

By nine am, she was dressed, and out the door, all set to find her twin. She wore her sweater hood up, and sunglasses to hide her newly white eyes and silver-white hair.

Her complexion too, was paler than usual, which really, no one was going to notice, she'd looked pretty much like Snow White before anyway.

Downtown was as busy as always, but Claire had never felt so alone.

She was so wrapped up in thought, that she didn't see the man walking towards her until she'd bumped into him.

Her sunglasses clattered to the ground, and she bent down to pick them up, muttering an apology.

"Maybe it would help if you watched where you were going." A condescending voice told her. Annoyed, Claire looked up to snap some reply, realizing too late that this gave the man a perfect view of her white eyes.

"Fuck." It was out of her mouth before she could stop it. _Well, I mean, he's already seen, so you might as well go for your snide remark._

"Well, would it have inconvenienced you that much to get out of my way?" Claire snapped. The man raised an eyebrow, and expression that was almost amused on his handsome face.

He looked familiar somehow, and Claire jerked back as she placed him.

 _Jonathan Crane._ She had just started a confrontation with a wanted criminal. She was struck by how young he was, perhaps just a few years older than her. She'd thought he'd be more physically imposing, but it turned out, his reputation scared her enough.

She backed away a few steps, before she heard a voice shout. "Hey, you there." Blackice whirled around, watching as two police officers approached them.

"Hands up, both of you."

"But-" Claire protested, the officer's glare silencing her. He grabbed her arm, and started to pull her towards the car. In a moment of panic, Claire did the unthinkable.

She turned around, and punched the officer in the face. The minute he let go of her, she took off down the street at a dead sprint.

Claire glanced behind her, and saw the Scarecrow had also gotten away in the commotion, and was running after her. Breathing hard, Claire ran down an alley between two warehouses, closing her eyes and concentrating on an icicle.

When she opened her eyes, a long, wicked looking spike extended from her loosely curled fingers like a crystal sword.

Hearing footsteps, Claire held it out in front of her.

Crane skidded to a halt just in time to stop himself being impaled in the chest.

"Get away from me." Claire hissed.

The man just rolled his eyes. "Put that down." He sneered.

Claire shook her head. "Get away from me." She repeated.

"Hmm, you have quite a temper, don't you?" The man sneered.

"You'll find out soon, if you don't fuck off." 

Jonathan heeded her warning enough to back up a few paces.

The girl's white eyes seemed to bore holes into him.

She was beautiful.

It wasn't something Jonathan usually cared about, but this girl was fascinating, with her temper, her powers.

No, this one was different.


	2. Identity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Claire reluctantly allies with Jonathan Crane, Alyssa learns to control her power.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit shorter, sorry about that.

Claire eyed Scarecrow warily. Though he had backed away from her, she didn’t delude herself into thinking that he wouldn’t attack her the moment she lowered her icicle. 

Had she not been so afraid, she might have laughed at the situation. She, a university student, was standing in an alleyway with Dr. Jonathan Crane, wielding an icicle like a sword.

An icicle that she had created out of nowhere, and that showed no signs of melting.

_ Cryokinises.  _ Her mind whispered.  _ That’s your power. You can control ice. _

“You seem tense.” Crane noted, a small smile quirking across his lips. 

Claire mustered a sneer.  _ Any sane person would be. _

“Which is foolish.” Crane went on. “As you could hurt me far more than I could hurt you.” He spread his hands, as if in surrender. “You’re the one with all the power here.” 

His voice was low and calm, as if he was trying to calm a frightened animal. Claire tried to steady the slight tremor in her hands, not even noticing the frost that was creeping out from where she stood.

She heard a shout, the barking of dogs.

_ Shit. The police. _

Claire jerked back in panic, raising one hand as if to ward off the dogs, which were barreling towards her with alarming speed.

A shimmering wall of ice formed in front of her and Crane, blocking off the alley from the dogs, which were barking madly from the other side.

Claire let out a breath, shocked by her own ability.

She startled as Crane grabbed her wrist, and pulled her along towards the back of the alley.

“What are you doing?” She demanded.

“Escaping the police. And making sure you do too.” He said, rolling his icy blue eyes.

“Let go of my arm.” Claire snapped, wrenching free. 

Crane halted abruptly, and Claire nearly crashed into him. She watched as the man tried to open a door leading into the warehouse, muttering to himself when it proved to be locked.

Claire didn’t pause to think, she shouldered him out of the way, clasping the door knob in her hands. She exhaled, concentrating on her task.

Ice began to creep out of the inside of the keyhole, forming a knob. Claire twisted it.

The lock clicked, and the door swung open.

“Who are you?” Crane’s voice said from behind her. She turned to face him.

“I’m…” She hesitated, a new name forming in her mind. She met Crane’s curious gaze. “I’m Blackice.”

Crane smirked, and strode into the darkness of the warehouse. Claire hesitated, and followed him in, hugging her arms. Here she was, breaking into a warehouse, running from the police with one of the most wanted criminals in the city.

_ What have I done?  _ She wondered.  _ Oh my God, what have I done? _

  
  


Alyssa growled in frustration as the flames flickered. She still couldn’t get it to go out.

“Calm down, Hot Stuff.” Mardon called. She turned her glare on him, and he grinned. “I’d say be patient, but fire is never patient.”

Alyssa gritted her teeth, and looked at the burning chair. 

She wanted the fire to listen to her, and she wanted it  _ now. _ She took a deep breath, and snapped her fingers.

The flames flickered once, twice…

And extinguished. 

From behind her, she heard Mardon clapping.

“There, now that wasn’t so hard, was it, Hot Stuff?” Mardon asked, smirking when she scowled at him.

“Try again, but this time, you light the chair on fire.”

Alyssa turned, fixed her gaze on the chair, and flicked her wrist.

A sweep of flame extended from her hand, engulfing the already scorched chair. For a moment, the girl let it burn. Then she snapped her fingers, and the flames went out.

Her usual scowl vanished at this, and for the first time, he saw her smile. 

She extended on hand, and let a small ball of fire sit in her open palm. Her orange eyes settled on Mardon’s face.

Alyssa smirked.

“You’re a better teacher than I would have thought.”

“Oh, you doubted.” Mardon said, playfully offended. Alyssa snorted, and shook her head. 

“Maybe a little.” She offered.

“Is that meant to be an apology?”

“Why would I apologize?” She asked, a small smile crossing her lips.

“Well, you underestimated my skills, didn’t you, Sparky?”

“Sparky?” The girl spluttered. She looked so offended that Mardon broke into a fit of laughter.

“Well, I figured I was risking my life to call you ‘sparkles’.” Mardon offered.

“And you figured right.” Alyssa growled, but there was amusement in her eyes.

“Oh, I usually do.”

“Well, aren’t you down to earth?” She snickered.

“Give it time, Sparky, and you’ll realize that I am the very soul of modesty.” Mardon teased.

“Yeah, and my parents will adore me, and tell me how proud I’ve made them.” Alyssa said, in a tone that suggested that hell would freeze over first. Her expression turned serious.

“Mardon, why did you decide to help me?”

He shrugged. “I saw potential. You have power, Wildfire. it would be a shame to waste it by living in fear of it.” 

“What did you call me?” Alyssa asked, tilting her head.

“Wildfire.”

A small smile twitched across the young woman’s lips. “Wildfire. I like that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any feedback is welcome!

**Author's Note:**

> So I decided to have Mardon head to Gotham to continue his antics away from Flash.  
> I would really appreciate any feedback, so please leave me a comment.


End file.
